Questions families ask

Short, plain answers to the things that come up every autumn. Nothing here is a rule we made up: it's how the admissions system works, and your council's booklet is always the final word for your area.

Can I apply to a school in another borough or county?

Yes, and it's completely normal. Plenty of families live near a boundary and the nearest school sits on the other side of it.

So if you live in one borough and want a school in the next one, you still apply to your own council by the deadline and simply name that school on the form. Your council passes your preferences to the other council and the school, they apply their own admission rules, and your council sends you one offer on National Offer Day. You never apply to the other council directly, and applying to your own council's schools as well doesn't harm the out-of-borough choice.

Does living outside the borough count against you? Usually not. Most schools rank children by how far they live from the school, so the boundary doesn't come into it: a family half a mile away in the next borough is normally ahead of one two miles away in the same borough. But some schools do give priority to a defined catchment area, to children at named feeder primaries, or to residents of their own area. That's set out in each school's oversubscription criteria, and it's the thing to check before you rely on being close.

Where people get stuck: the form defaults to your own council's school list. On eAdmissions, used across London, click Add school, then change Select a Local Authority from your council to the one that runs the school you want, and it appears in the Select a school list. Outside London the wording differs, but every council's form has the same "school in another area" route.

You can keep editing your choices until the closing date, but you must resubmit after every change, and you should get a confirmation email each time. If no email arrives, the change didn't save.

There's a full walkthrough of the form on our How to apply page, which fills in your own council and your ranked schools.

On this site, open the school you're wondering about and look at its Admissions tab. It shows how far places reached in past years, measured from where you live, and flags schools that use a catchment area or a fixed measuring point instead of plain distance.

How many schools can I list?

It depends on your council: six is the usual number across London, and three to six elsewhere. Your council's form will tell you. Use all the spaces you're given. There's no reward for naming fewer, and every extra realistic choice is another chance of an offer.

Does the order I put them in matter?

It matters for you, and not for the schools. This is the "equal preference" rule, and it's the single most misunderstood part of the system.

What happens is this: every school works out who it would offer a place to, using its own criteria, ignoring your ranking entirely. If you qualify at more than one, you're given the one you ranked highest and the others are released to other families. So the order is simply your own preference order. Put them in the order you'd genuinely want them, and don't "play tactics" by leaving a favourite off.

The one piece of tactics that is real: include at least one school you're likely to be offered. If none of your choices can offer you a place, you don't get a free pick of what's left.

How is distance measured, and what is "last distance offered"?

Councils measure in different ways: a straight line from your home to the school, or a walking route, or the distance from a fixed "nodal point". Most use a straight line from the address point of your home to a central point at the school.

"Last distance offered" is how far away the furthest child offered a place lived that year. If a school offered up to 0.8 miles and you live 0.5 miles away, that year you would have been inside. It moves every year with the number of children applying, so we weight recent years most and show the range rather than a single promise.

Our distances are straight lines from your postcode, or from the pin if you drag it to your door, so they can differ a little from the council's own measurement. Near the edge of a catchment, that difference can matter, and the council's figure is the one that counts.

What if I'm not offered any school on my list?

Every child whose family applies on time is offered a school place. If none of your choices can offer one, your council offers you the nearest school with a space. That can be a hard letter to read, and it isn't the end of it: you can stay on waiting lists, you can appeal, and places move over the spring and summer as other families accept and decline.

How do waiting lists work?

You're usually added automatically to the list of any school you ranked above the one you were offered, and you can ask to join others. Lists are not first-come-first-served: they're ranked by the same criteria as offer day, so a family that moves closer can join above you.

Lists move most between March and the start of term, as families accept places elsewhere, move away, or take up an independent or grammar place. Accepting the place you've been offered does not remove you from any waiting list, and refusing it doesn't improve your position. Accept it, and keep waiting.

What is an appeal, and is it worth it?

An appeal is a hearing in front of an independent panel, asking them to order a place for your child at a school that turned you down. You appeal to the school's admission authority, which is the council for some schools and the school itself for others, and the offer letter explains how.

Honestly: for oversubscribed schools with a legal class size limit in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, appeals rarely succeed, because the panel can only allow one if a mistake was made or the decision was unreasonable. For secondary schools, appeals succeed more often, and a clear case about your child's needs and why this school in particular meets them is worth making. The waiting list is usually the better bet, and you can do both.

Grammar schools and the 11+

Grammar schools select by an entrance test, often called the 11+. Two things trip families up. First, you register for the test separately from the school application, usually in the late spring or summer of Year 5, and that deadline normally falls months before the 31 October application deadline. Second, passing doesn't guarantee a place: schools that fill up then rank those who passed by distance, by catchment, or by score.

Where we know the local arrangement, the school's page names it: the Kent Test, the Medway Test, the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, the Essex CSSE exam, and so on. Always check the school's own site for this year's dates.

Faith schools

Faith schools usually rank children by religious practice before distance: attendance at a named church, a supporting form signed by a minister, sometimes for a set period before applying. A short distance at a faith school can therefore mean something quite different from a short distance elsewhere, and our estimates for those schools are less reliable. If you're not of that faith, most faith schools still admit other children, but usually in a lower priority group, so your realistic distance is shorter than the headline figure.

Banding tests

Some schools, particularly in London, ask children to sit a test so they can admit a mix of abilities. It isn't a pass or fail. Children are placed in bands, and each band gets a share of the places, with distance deciding inside each band. That means the distance you need can differ between bands at the same school, which is why our figures are given per band where the council publishes them.

We're moving house. Which address counts?

The address you're actually living at when the council checks, which is normally at the point of application and again before offers go out. Councils do check, and they can and do withdraw places given on a false address, even after a child has started. If you're genuinely moving, tell the council as soon as you have a tenancy or exchange, and ask what evidence they need. If you move after applying, tell them straight away: your position may change, for better or worse.

We need a place now, mid-year

That's an in-year application, and you can make one at any time of year, for any state school. Some councils take these centrally, and some schools handle their own, so start with your council's admissions page. Schools with a space must normally offer it. Where there's no space, you can ask to join the waiting list and you can appeal.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The site covers all four nations, but the systems differ, so treat the guidance above as the English one.

• Wales: you apply through your local council, which usually admits by catchment area and, for Welsh-medium schools, by language provision. Estyn inspects, not Ofsted.
• Scotland: children are given a place at their catchment school automatically, and you make a "placing request" if you want a different one. Catchment areas are formally defined boundaries rather than distances.
• Northern Ireland: post-primary transfer is not distance-based. Each school's governors publish their own criteria, and many use the SEAG entrance assessment, with registration opening more than a year before entry. There is no published "last distance offered" to show, so we don't estimate chances there.

Do siblings get priority, and is it guaranteed?

Almost every school puts brothers and sisters high in its criteria, usually just after children in care and those with the school named in an EHCP, and above distance. It is not a guarantee: the sibling must normally still be at the school when the younger child starts, and a few schools only count siblings living at the same address, or within a catchment area. Check the wording, especially if your older child will have left by then, or if the schools are federated but legally separate.

Twins, triplets and children from the same year group in one family are protected: if one is offered the last place, councils will normally admit the others even if it takes the year group over its limit.

SEN, EHCPs and extra needs

If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, admissions works differently and better for you. You name the school you want as part of the EHCP process, and the council must name it unless it would be unsuitable for your child or seriously harm the education of others. That naming comes before the normal oversubscription criteria, so you don't compete on distance. The timetable runs earlier than the ordinary one, so talk to your SEN caseworker in Year 5 rather than waiting for the autumn.

If your child has additional needs without a plan, you apply the normal way. Some schools have a resourced provision or specialist unit with its own criteria; our school pages show where one exists, and it's worth asking the SENCO how it works before you rank.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children

Children in care, and children who left care through adoption or a special guardianship or child arrangements order, come first in every school's criteria by law, including faith schools and most grammar schools. This also covers children who were in care outside England before being adopted. You have to tell the council, with evidence, so the priority is applied. If that's your family, say so on the form even if you assume they already know.

Summer-born children and deferring Reception

Children start Reception in the September after they turn four, but you don't have to send them then. You can defer to later in the same school year (up to the term after they turn five), or ask to start in Reception a year later, which is the "summer-born" request, most often made for children born between April and August.

Two things to know. You still apply in the normal round for the normal year, and you make the request alongside it. And the decision is made by each school's admission authority, not by you, so it's worth asking early and in writing, with anything from a health visitor, nursery or paediatrician that supports it. Some councils agree readily; others rarely do.

Supplementary forms, staff children and other criteria

Some schools need a second form as well as the council one: faith schools asking about worship, schools running a banding or aptitude test, and a few others. Miss it and you may be considered under a lower priority, or not at the right one, even though your council form was perfect. The school's admissions page lists it, and the deadline is often earlier than 31 October.

Other criteria you'll see: children of staff, children at a named feeder primary, children of a particular faith or parish, and a small number of places for aptitude in music, sport, languages or art at schools allowed to select that way. Each one is set out in order in the school's oversubscription criteria, which is the document worth reading properly for the two or three schools you care most about.

What if I miss the deadline?

Apply anyway, as soon as you can. Late applications are normally considered after all the on-time ones, which really does cost you places at popular schools, but you are still in the process and still entitled to a place. If you missed it for a reason the council recognises, such as a house move or illness, say so: some councils will treat an application as on time in defined circumstances.

Will my child get free travel?

Councils must provide free home-to-school travel for children attending their nearest suitable school if it is beyond the statutory walking distance: two miles for under-eights, three miles for older children. Lower-income families have wider entitlements, including a choice of several nearer schools at secondary age, and there are extra rules for children who can't reasonably walk because of SEN, disability or an unsafe route.

The catch that surprises people: choosing a further school when a nearer one had a place usually means paying for travel yourself. If transport costs would be a real problem, check your council's policy before you rank.

What do Ofsted grades and report cards mean now?

Single-word judgements (Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement, Inadequate) were scrapped in 2024. From late 2025 Ofsted publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so a school can be strong in one and weaker in another. Many schools still show an older single grade because they haven't been inspected since.

Either way, treat the grade as one input with a date attached. A "Good" from 2017 describes a school that may have changed leadership twice since. The inspection report itself, and the date, tell you more than the label.

Progress 8, Attainment 8 and what results really tell you

Attainment 8 is the average grade pupils achieved across eight GCSE subjects. It reflects the intake as much as the teaching, so a school in a wealthier area will usually score higher.

Progress 8 is more useful to a parent: it compares each pupil with pupils nationally who had the same results at the end of primary school. Zero is the national average, so a positive score means pupils here did better than similar pupils elsewhere. Anything between about −0.5 and +0.5 is a fairly ordinary range, and small differences between schools are usually noise: that's why our tables show a likely range rather than one number.

How do I judge a school beyond the numbers?

Go. Open evenings run from late September, and many schools also offer a weekday morning tour, which shows you an ordinary day rather than a performance. Things worth noticing: how pupils speak to each other and to staff, what's on the walls, how behaviour is handled, what happens for a child who is struggling or racing ahead, and how they answer a hard question. Ask about the journey, too: a 25-minute walk in November is a different school from a 70-minute bus ride each way.

Ask other parents at the gate, not just online. And take your child. They usually know within ten minutes whether they can imagine themselves there, and they'll be the one going every day.

Can a school change its rules between now and then?

Yes. Admission authorities can consult on changes to their criteria, and they must publish the arrangements for a year by 15 March of the year before entry. So the rules that apply to your child are usually settled about 18 months ahead. If a school near you is changing its catchment, adding a feeder school or introducing a test, the consultation is the moment to notice, and to respond if it affects you.

What definitely changes every year, whatever the rules say, is the distance places reach. That moves with how many children apply, which is why we weight recent years most heavily and never quote a single figure as a promise.

Independent schools, fees and bursaries

Independent schools sit outside the council system entirely: you apply to the school, on its timetable, usually with its own assessment or interview, and you pay fees. They're on our map for completeness, with their inspection reports, but there's no council distance figure to show because distance isn't how they choose.

If you're considering one, ask directly about bursaries. Many offer means-tested help that isn't advertised prominently, and the deadlines are often earlier than the entrance assessment.

Sixth form and 16+

Applications at 16 go to the school or college itself, not through your council, and usually close between October and January of Year 11. Offers are conditional on GCSE grades, and each course has its own entry requirements. You can apply to several, and you should: keep one offer that your predicted grades comfortably meet.

Staying at your own school's sixth form is usually not automatic either. Check their entry requirements alongside everyone else's.

How accurate are your chances, really?

They're an estimate from published data, and we'd rather be honest about the limits than sound confident.

• They're built from what councils published about previous years, not this year, and demand moves.
• We measure a straight line from your postcode; councils measure their own way, sometimes from a fixed point or by walking route.
• Sibling places and other criteria come before distance, and we can't know whether your child qualifies.
• Some councils publish little or nothing, and we say so rather than guessing.

Use them to see which schools are realistic and which are a stretch. Don't use them to drop a school you love because we've put a low number on it, and don't skip a safe choice because we've put a high one.

Something looks wrong, or unfair

If a figure on this site looks wrong, tell us and we'll check it against the source; every school page lists where its data came from.

If a school's admission arrangements themselves look unlawful or unfair, that's a matter for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, which can consider objections from parents. If you think your application was handled badly, the council's complaints process comes first, then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The dates that matter

• Secondary (Year 7): apply by 31 October, offers on 1 March.
• Primary (Reception): apply by 15 January, offers on 16 April.
• Entrance tests: registration usually in the late spring or summer of the year before, with the test in the September.
• Accepting: reply by the date on your offer letter, usually a fortnight or so. Accepting keeps your waiting-list places.

Open the "Help me make a plan" guide on the map and it works these dates out for your child's birth month, and shows the schools worth putting on your list.

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